Davao City, Philippines — “I need to read things one at a time before I can fully grasp them,” said Maria, an 11th grade student.
Her school, fondly called City High, is the Davao City National High School (DCNHS). It is the region’s premier public school, with 14,000 students and nearly 500 teaching and non-teaching staff.
As schools opened this week, several students shared with Davao Today their experiences and struggles with literacy.
Janica, a grade 11 student, said her teachers advised her to read “five times” so that she can read easily.
Fourteen-year-old Rion, a grade 10 student, said, “(T)he challenge in lengthy reading is taking the time to analyze and reflect.”
He added that mentally summarizing a topic is difficult when the text is long.
Seventeen-year-old Ralph, a grade 11 student, told Davao Today, “I struggle when I encounter words I don’t know. Sometimes, I can still grasp the overall meaning.”
Higher than average
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, 93.1 percent of Filipinos aged 10 to 64 have basic literacy, but only 70.8 percent have functional literacy.
Davao City recorded the highest basic literacy rate in the Davao region at 93.5 percent. Among individuals aged 10 to 64, the city also topped regional rankings, with a functional literacy rate of 69.6 percent.
Despite this positive report, Allan Farnazo, the Department of Education XI regional director, said at an inter-agency meeting that high school students struggle with basic reading and comprehension.
“The learning outcomes of the students have significantly declined due to the pandemic,” Farnazo noted.
For his part, Reynaldo Padillo, president of the Association of Concerned Teachers (ACT) in Davao City, said that children who cannot read will fall behind.
“If you don’t know how to read, you’ll be left behind because of the education gap. We lost our way, and the situation worsened because of the pandemic,” Padillo said.
DepEd-XI launched the Literacy Remediation Program, an initiative based on Memorandum No. 24. The program includes Comprehensive Rapid Literacy Assessments (CRLA) in Filipino, English, and the mother tongue to help identify reading gaps.
“We are very aggressive in saying that we will try to eliminate non-readers from our schools,” said Farnazo.
He added, “We are assuring the public and our stakeholders that we will enhance learners’ capabilities for their future.”
Struggle is real
Meanwhile, City High students struggle and try to cope.
“It depends on how the words are pronounced. Some words are just hard,” said George, a 15-year-old 10th grader.
Nicole, a 16-year-old grade 11 student, said she needs to read something many times to understand it better. Many of her peers struggle to comprehend simple texts in the classroom, and this is a common experience.
Nicole admits that terms with deeper meanings can be difficult to understand. Reading one lesson at a time is an effective consistent process.
Fast-paced dialogues are another challenge for these students. Nicole admitted that she has difficulty understanding people who talk too fast. Queen, a 14-year-old ninth grader, compared fast talkers to the “Flash,” the superhero depicted in DC comics which possesses “superspeed” powers that include the ability to run, move, think and speak extremely fast.
Roschele, a 16-year-old grade 11 student, said, “(I)t is basically common sense, easy to understand, and simple to comprehend.”
Bryce, a 15-year-old in 10th grade, said he finds confidence in consistency. As long as he reads correctly, he can understand. For many, reading opens wider doorways of familiarity.
He said that numbers represent a different world, noting the shift from words to mathematics.
Some students, like George and Noel, who are in 10th grade, proudly claimed that they could compute naturally and called math their “top subject” in class.
Coping
Despite the challenges, some students find triumph and growth in enhancing their literacy skills in their free time.
These students navigate literacy experiences with strategies, despite challenges in reading, listening, and math-solving skills.
“I don’t really struggle anymore. That’s how I started writing stories. It became like my alone time,” said Prince, a ninth grader.
Jayce, a junior high school student, said that analyzing what a person is trying to say improves communication and understanding.
Literacy skills are also rooted in childhood and include learning to read, write, solve problems, and analyze.
“I grew up being taught how to read and understand, so I can figure out what is written,” said Ralph.(davaotoday.com)
davao, literacy
